USS Miami, a 730-ton "double-ender" side-wheel gunboat,
was built at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, Pennsylvania. Commissioned on
29 January 1862, she was sent to the Gulf of Mexico to participate in the
campaign against New Orleans. Once that city was captured, Miami operated
in the Gulf and the Mississippi river until September 1862, when she was
transferred to the Atlantic.

During the next two years, Miami was employed in the North Carolina
Sounds area, participating in a number of actions. On 19 April 1864, she
engaged the Confederate ironclad Albemarle, a battle that resulted in the
death of Miami's Commanding Officer, Lieutenant Commander Charles W. Flusser.
Later in 1864, she shifted to the James River, Virginia, and spent the
remainder of the Civil War in that area. USS Miami was decommissioned in
May 1865 and sold the following August. From then until 1869, she was employed
as a commercial vessel.

The above photo is of members of the ship's crew on the forecastle,
circa 1864-65. Frank W. Hackett, a former officer of the ship, wrote in
1910: "The officer standing in the background, at the extreme prow
of the ship, is W.N. Wells, Executive Officer. The man in the fore ground
with his arm on the nine-inch gun is White, the gunner. Sergeant of Marines,
Stanley, is sitting in the fore-ground, near the capstan". Men are
playing checkers by the capstan. Anti-boarding nettings are rigged on each
side of the ship but rolled up in way of the bow guns. There are a number
of black sailors visible among the crew. The text of Mr. Hackett's comments
was provided by John W. Hinds in 1994. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.